BEAR BERRY. 74 
aration, which he employed, was an acid liquor, 
obtained by a destructive distillation of the leaves, 
and probably not superior to other weak acids in 
its solvent powers. On the other hand, Professor 
Murray found what might reasonably be expect- 
ed, that these calculi were not materially affected. 
by long digestion in a decoction of this plant at 
various temperatures. 
The attention of many medical writers has 
been called to the properties of this medicine, 
and their reports as to its suecess are extremely 
various. Among its greatest friends; are De 
Haen, Professor Murray, and Dr. Ferriar ; while 
of those whose opinion is more unfavourable, are 
Sauvages, Haller, Donald, Munro and Fothergill. 
Dr. Cullen adopts the opinion of De Heucher, that 
the symptoms of calculus generally are suscepti- 
ble of relief from astringents, and believes that on 
this principle the Uva ursi is capable of mitigat- 
ing complaints arising from that source.* 
In this country the Uva ursi has acquired the 
good opinion of practitioners of medicine in re- 
* In the preface to the third volume of Medical Observations and 
Inquiries, published at London, it is stated in very general terms, that 
the Uva ursi had been prescribed unsuccessfully by many of the mem- 
bers of the Society of Physicians in London, Dr. Woodville, in his 
Medical Botany, has unfortunately misquoted this passage, by read- 
ing “ successfully” instead of * unsuccessfully.” 
